Thaindian News

New Delhi, Oct 11 (IANS) The Jan Chetna Yatra of L.K. Advani, which was flagged off from Chapra by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Tuesday morning, is the sixth yatra the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader has undertaken in the past 21 years.

Advani’s 38-day Jan Chetna campaign is being conducted to highlight the issues of black money, corruption, electoral reforms and judicial reforms. He will traverse 12,000 km criss-crossing 23 states and four union territories and cover 100 districts.

Here is a chronology and details of the other five yatras which helped Advani and the BJP to harvest political gains on some occasions, but raised the communal temperature and triggered violence on other occasions.

I. Somnath-Ayodhya Ram Rath Yatra, 1990:

The first and most controversial of Advani yatras was conducted to press the demand for construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya.

The yatra, which began Sep 25, 1990, from Somnath, was supposed to culminate at Ayodhya on Oct 30 after traversing 10,000 km. However, Advani was arrested in Samastipur on the orders of then Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad before he could reach Ayodhya.

The rath yatra helped increase the strength of the BJP from 88 in 1989 to 120 in the 1991 Lok Sabha polls.

The yatra is alleged to have triggered the fervour for demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, sparking off communal riots.

2. Janadesh Yatra, 1993:

This yatra, conducted to campaign against the Constitution 80th Amendment Bill and the Representation of People (Amendment) Bill, was flagged off from four corners of the country and led by senior leaders.

The yatras, beginning Sep 11, 1993, were led by Advani from Mysore, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat from Jammu, Murli Manohar Joshi from Porbandar and Kalyan Singh from Kolkata.

The yatras congregated at Bhopal Sep 25.

The contentious bills were not passed.

3. Swarna Jayanti Rath Yatra, 1997:

The third yatra was to celebrate 50 years of India’s independence.

Though the proclaimed aim of the yatra was to pay homage to the martyrs and heroes of the freedom struggle, political circles viewed it as a strategy to strengthen the BJP and Advani’s position in the national politics.

Accompanied by several party leaders like Pramaod Mahajan, Narendra Modi and Uma Bharti, the BJP veteran traversed over 15,000 km from May 18 to July 15, 1997.

4. Bharat Uday Yatra, 2004:

This yatra, just a month before the Lok Sabha polls, was an election-oriented campaign highlighting the ‘India shining’ slogan.

The yatra, which was flagged off from Kanyakumari on March 10, 2004, reached Amritsar March 25. Five days later, it resumed from Rajkot and culminated at Jagannath Puri April 14.

Despite the yatra, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) lost the polls and the “India Shining” slogan was accused to be the spoiler.

5. Bharat Suraksha Yatra, 2006:

The fifth yatra of Advani was to publicise the party view that the United Progressive Alliance-I (UPA) government was not serious in crushing terrorism.

The one-month yatra from April 6 to May 10, 2006, was split into two campaigns — one led by Advani from Dwarka to Delhi; and the other led by Rajnath Singh, then party president, from Jagannath Puri to Delhi.

Advani’s yatra covered a distance of 6,000 km while Singh’s yatra covered 5,500 km.